


Malec Playlist Challenge

by Goldentrio15



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare
Genre: M/M, Song fics, small drabbles
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 04:41:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8475826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goldentrio15/pseuds/Goldentrio15
Summary: A collection of small Malec drabbles inspired by different songs.





	

**Author's Note:**

> The Challenge: Set your iPod to shuffle and write ten drabbles inspired by the first ten songs. (You're meant to finish the drabble in the time it takes for the song to finish, but I cheated because they were all ending up much too short to actually be entertaining.)   
> For optimum enjoyment, I'd recommend you listen to each song as you read the fic, but you definitely don't have to. Also, this does not contain actual *smut*, but it is my first time writing anything more explicit than a kiss, so be gentle with me please!

**Only You - Keith Urban (“When I wander through this town, I only think of you. Only you can take my bad heart and make it good. Only you can take my crooked path and make it new.”)**

Magnus didn’t know where he was, and he didn’t care. Somewhere in Europe, he thought, but it didn’t really matter. It was raining, and that seemed almost too fitting, like he was in some stupid pop music video with a sad acoustic song playing over the top. It had been five years since Magnus had lost _him_ to a Shax demon. A fucking _Shax_ , of all the goddamn ridiculous things. If only Magnus had fucking been there - _like he was meant to be,_ he thought fiercely - his blue-eyed saviour would still be by his side, instead of sleeping in the Bone City.

Since Alec had died, Magnus could feel himself falling further and further into everything he hated. Drinking, drugs, sex with strangers just to _feel_ something again. Providing his services to anyone who paid, regardless of what they were going to use his power for. He knew it was happening, and some part of him was screaming to stop before it was too late, but he just didn’t care any more. Alec had, without either of them knowing it, been the only thing standing between Magnus and his own destruction, and now he was gone, there was just no point in resisting anymore. His father was a prince of hell, for Christ’s sake. Magnus’s heart was as black as Alec’s hair had been, and now the floodgates were opening and the evil was pouring out for all the world to see.

After five years, no one had been brave enough yet to tell him his cat pupils now flicked to a flat, slick black with every blue shimmer at his fingertips.

 

**Blinding  - Florence and the Machine (“No more dreaming like a girl so in love, so in love. No more dreaming like a girl so in love with the wrong world.” Also I imagine the beat of the song as Alec’s heartbeat.)**

Alec paced back and forth in his room, his mind whirling.

_-You’re acting like a stupid teenage girl with a celebrity crush._

^No! Magnus is different, you know he is.

_-Yeah, he’s different, alright. He’s a fucking Downworlder. It’s wrong._

^How could something that feels this right possibly be wrong?

_-Counter-argument - how could every adult you’ve ever met be wrong? It’s called Downworld for a reason. It isn’t your world. There’s a reason we stay separate from it. Just accept that you can’t ever see him ag-_

^NO!

His eyes flew open. His pulse was racing like he’d just sprinted half a mile, and before he could talk himself out of it, he grabbed his phone and dialled, fingers shaky with adrenaline. _No more dreaming. No more bigoted crap that sounds like something your parents would say. You need to grab this before it slips away and you regret it for the rest of your life._ The phone seemed to ring for an eternity, and in that time Alec convinced himself to hang up half a dozen times.

“Bane.”

“...Magnus? It’s Alec.”

 

**All of Me - John Legend (“And I’m so dizzy, don’t know what hit me, but I’ll be alright/Give me all of you, oh. Cards on the table, we’re both showing hearts. Risking it all, though it’s hard.”)**

One morning that September, after the war with Valentine was over and everything had gone back to normal, Magnus woke up before Alec - which might as well be called the eighth wonder of the world, it was that rare. He stretched with his whole body, groaning at the simple pleasure of it, before collapsing back onto the bed. He let his gaze drift, mind still fuzzy from sleep, and it was then that his eyes landed on the tangle of black hair on the pillow next to him. With the weak early-morning sun filtering through the sheer drapes and landing on Alec’s face, he looked like an angel, simultaneously dangerous and vulnerable. His eyes flickered beneath closed eyelids. Magnus found himself wondering if he was dreaming and what it was about.

Something seemed to drop into place, then, as Magnus stared at the boy asleep in his bed, at the man who was forced to grow up too fast. He felt like he’d been waiting for this moment his entire life, and now that it was here he could die happy, because everything he wanted was right here in front of him. He’d been in love before, many times, but somehow he sensed this was it. There would be no one else after Alec. Here was someone who knew Magnus better than anyone else on Earth, alive or dead; someone to whom Magnus had given everything and received everything from in return. Someone who challenged him, called him on his drama and bullshit, and in that moment Magnus knew he had never loved anyone else more than he loved his blue-eyed angel boy.

  


**Lost Highway - Bon Jovi (“I finally found my way, say goodbye to yesterday. Hit the gas, there ain’t no brakes on this lost highway.”)**

Magnus was New York City personified, with all the challenge and defiance and independence and adrenaline that came with it. Alec was never going to be able to associate him with anywhere else, and he would always look slightly out of place wherever else he went. That was just Magnus, and it was one of Alec’s favourite things about him.

But this...this might be the first time Alec could see them fitting in somewhere other than the concrete jungle. Golden wheat fields stretched out as far as he could see on either side of the endless black tarmac, punctuated by sprawling white farmhouses and dotted with black-and-white cattle. The sun was warm, but the wind rushing over his skin was cool enough to send a shiver down his spine. Although that might have something to do with the sight of Magnus next to him, one hand loosely resting on the wheel of the sleek red convertible, almost an afterthought, and the other arm draped around Alec’s shoulders. Both of them wore sunglasses, jeans and t-shirts, which looked normal and boring on Alec but effortlessly casual and incredibly sexy on Magnus. Alec didn’t think he’d ever felt more relaxed and content in his life, but at the same time adrenaline seemed to spark under his skin, lighting his veins and making him want to scream out loud for the sheer pleasure of doing so.

An old rock and roll song from the eighties he vaguely recognised came on the radio, and the lyrics seemed to seep into his skin, something about finding yourself on a lost highway. It fit so perfectly that he wasn’t entirely convinced it had been random. Magnus knew a lot of songs and seemed to always have the perfect playlist for every event. Either way, it didn’t matter.

Alec stretched up and pressed a kiss to the corner of his boyfriend’s mouth. Magnus pressed down hard on the gas, the car leapt forwards, accelerating almost out of control, and Alec trusted Magnus to keep them from careening into danger. It felt like a metaphor, somehow.

 

**Do I Wanna Know? - Arctic Monkeys (“Do you ever get that fear that you can’t shift? The type that sticks around like something in your teeth?/I dreamt about you nearly every night this week/Ever thought of calling when you’ve had a few, cause I always do.”)**

_Another drink._

_Turn the music up._

The beautiful, airy loft apartment was unrecognisable, only three days after the Shadowhunters had bullied their way through his front door and into his life. The curtains were firmly closed, throwing the space into deep shadow, and no one had bothered to turn on a light. Dirty dishes were piled high in the sink. A pall of cigarette smoke hung just below the ceiling, and the coffee table was littered with empty whisky glasses. Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn, sprawled on his back on the canary-yellow lounge, wearing black skinny jeans and a matching tank top, Doc Martins flung haphazardly on the floor a few feet away and sock feet resting on the arm of the couch. He took another drag from his latest cigarette and blew the smoke out through his nose, hard. Then he took a mouthful of whatever spirit was in the glass dangling from his free hand, hanging over the edge of the couch only a few inches from the floor. It burned. He didn’t care.

He needed to drive out the bright blue eyes that seemed to be haunting him these last three days. Every time he closed his own eyes, every time he relaxed, they appeared in the back of his mind under a shock of messy black hair. Dammit. Blue eyes and black hair. Fine, high cheekbones. Tall. Lean. Indescribably sad and pretending otherwise. Blue-Eyes was the spitting image of Will Herondale, that irreparably broken boy from all those years ago who haunted Magnus even now. God, he thought he’d recovered from Will. But now this new boy had simply sauntered into his life with a bow slung over one shoulder, and Magnus was right back where he started.

He took another drink and stared at his phone. Where Blue-Eyes’s number sat, slowly hypnotising him, to the point where Magnus’s fingers were in danger of picking up the phone without his permission and dialling on their own. Magnus couldn’t call him, because he couldn’t live with another blue-eyed, black-haired mess of a boy on his conscience.

But god _damn_ he wanted to.

Magnus turned up the music and closed his eyes.

  


**Heart Attack - Darren Hayes (“Something you’ve done has lit my fuse.” Plus the love-hate relationship the song describes, there isn’t really one line that sums it up.)**

The best part about sex with Alec, Magnus thought, was the _challenge_. Alec wasn’t a passive lover, and neither was Magnus; they both loved to push and take and demand something in return, and that sometimes resulted in broken furniture, but usually it just ended up with both of them screaming. Partly with frustration, which they laughed about later, but mostly with pleasure.

_Always_ with pleasure.

It was the same outside the bedroom, too. In the life they shared, they didn’t fit together like puzzle pieces, or some other tired cliche; it was more like the way thunder and lightening battled for dominance of the storm. Becoming more and more impressive and powerful the longer they went on fighting, too stubborn to accept that they were two different parts of the same whole, finding beauty and harmony in the chaos that was the sum total of their existence together.

Their relationship might be unconventional, and it might be frustrating, and it definitely drove Magnus crazy several times a week, but when Alec snarled like that and shoved at Magnus, rolling them over to get on top and pinning Magnus down when he fought back...when hard muscle visibly moved under tight, hot skin as Alec easily resisted Magnus’s effort to yank his hands free...when Alec flung his head back, eyes closed, and made that _one sound_ that drove Magnus crazy…

Yeah, that made it all worth it.

 

**Waiting On The World To Change - John Mayer (“We keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change.”)**

The door to the loft apartment slammed so hard Magnus could feel the walls rattle. Cautiously, he laid today’s book aside and slipped through the door to the main room to find his boyfriend ripping off his formal jacket and throwing it as hard as he could at the floor. Alec’s breathing was heavy, like he’d been running, and his teeth were gritted in the way they always were when he was trying not to cry.

“What happened? You look like you’ve just sprinted here straight from the wedding,” Magnus asked. Alec’s shoulders tightened for a moment before he turned around to face Magnus fully.

“I did. I couldn’t stay there any longer, Magnus. I tried so hard to ignore them, but they just...they wouldn’t…”

“Hey, hey, shhh,” Magnus whispered, his hand coming up to rest on Alec’s shoulder. The other boy leaned into the touch, his eyes fluttering closed. His jaw was still clenched tight. “Take your time. Or don’t tell me at all. I don’t have to know-”

“No, I want to. They...they kept asking about you. About us. And not in the nice way, you know, ‘How’re things with you and Magnus?’ They kept saying stuff like ‘It’s a shame we’ll never see you up there, Alexander’ and ‘I’m glad the Clave is so strict about keeping Shadowhunter weddings Shadowhunter business. I mean, imagine if someone brought along a _Downworlder_!’” Once the words started, they just seemed to keep pouring out, and the more Alec talked, the tighter the anger coiled in Magnus’s belly. These people had hurt Alec, and there was nothing else in the world that made Magnus angry faster than that.

Eventually the flow of words petered out. At some point, they had moved into their bedroom and now Alec was curled against Magnus’s chest, long fingers in his hair. Magnus realised the front of his shirt was wet and Alec’s teeth were no longer gritted.

“Hey. How you doing?” Magnus’s voice was soft, barely above a whisper. Alec shifted to look up at him and smiled. It wasn’t a happy smile.

“I’ll live. It’s not as if this is the first time this has happened. I just wish things were different. That we didn’t have to face this every time we go out.” His voice was wistful, and Magnus’s heart broke for his blue-eyed angel boy.

“I know, love. But there isn’t much we can do about it. All we can do is wait for the world to change on its own.”

 

**Take Me With U - Prince (“I can’t disguise the pounding of my heart, it beats so strong./I don’t care where we go, I don’t care what we do. I don’t care, pretty baby, just take me with you.”)**

Nothing looked right. Nothing fit. He was Magnus Bane, dammit. He could have literally any item of clothing in existence, magic it right into his closet, and yet _he couldn’t get anything to look right._ He must have changed his outfit at least ten times in half an hour.

Why was he even worried? This was Alec he was going out with tonight. It wasn’t like he had to impress the boy to make him stick around. He could probably wear a garbage bag tonight and Alec would still look at him like Magnus was the most captivating thing on the face of the Earth. And yet his heart was pounding and his breath was fluttery and he felt too hot and too cold at the same time, like this was a first date and not a fifth anniversary.

He stared at his latest reflection in the full length mirror for approximately three seconds before growling and yanking his shirt over his head once again.

*******

Alec sat on Isabelle’s bed, running over and over his plans for this evening in his head while his sister chattered about some Seelie party she was going to tomorrow. _Taxi, restaurant, don’t forget to order that Australian wine Magnus loves, suggest a stroll along the boardwalk, DON’T keep touching your pocket to check it’s still there, get to the end, Magnus will go to turn around, you say “wait, Magnus? I wanted to ask something while we’re here.” And then…_

And then, Alec’s mind was blank. He’d purchased the plain silver ring weeks ago, but he still didn’t know what to do with the thing, still didn’t know what to say. Part of him, the rational part, was reminding his brain that this was Magnus, that he could stammer and stumble and generally make a complete ass of himself tonight and Magnus would still probably accept, but the socially idiotic part of his brain was screaming at him that this had to be perfect or Magnus would finally wake up and notice just how boring and _mundane_ Alec was and leave him for some vampire or another warlock or literally _anyone_ other than Alec.

He swallowed and touched the lump in his pocket again.

 

**Ring of Fire - Adam Lambert (live) No particular lyrics, just the song as a whole.**

Magnus was so caught up in his book that he didn’t immediately register Alec fiddling with the stereo. But he vaguely registered when the shimmering, seductive cover of “Ring of Fire” started, and he _definitely_ noticed when Alec started rolling his hips, still facing away from Magnus, who dropped the book.

Alec was _dancing_ , and what’s more, he was dancing _for Magnus_ , deliberately putting himself on display for his boyfriend’s pleasure. Those jeans ought to be illegal, thought Magnus dazedly, as this person who was most certainly not his boyfriend suddenly spun and began to prowl towards him. Alec looked downright predatory, the way he looked on a hunt, like he wanted to devour Magnus, and Magnus swallowed hard as he remembered catching Alec reapplying the stamina rune earlier in the day. Obviously, Alec had _plans_ for tonight, which was simultaneously fantastic and terrifying. And through all of this, Alec was still moving his hips, rolling them in a way he usually reserved for when Magnus was under him, back arched. His mouth dropped open just slightly, his breathing deepening a little, and his eyes were the most sinfully sexy thing Magnus thought he had ever seen. They promised to have Magnus _screaming_ by the end of the night. And by the Angel, Magnus was more than on board with that plan.

 

**Colours - Halsey (“Everything is blue, his pills, his hands, his jeans/Everything was grey, his hair, his smoke, his dreams./You were red, you liked me ‘cause I was blue. You touched me and suddenly I was a lilac sky.”)**

Sometimes, Alec imagined what Magnus and himself looked like to other people, how different they must appear. Magnus was all bright colours and shimmering magic, grabbing your attention with both hands and not allowing you to look away from him. Magnus took command of any room he entered just by walking in. Next to him, Alec was boring and mediocre, usually dressed in black jeans, a dark sweater and heavy boots, his hair falling in his eyes and his head lowered and his arms hanging awkwardly at his sides. If Magnus was a bright, sparkling blue like his magic, Alec was probably a deep wine red. Nice in the right lighting, but on the whole, generic and forgettable. Other people must surely wonder why he was even there, how he could ever be worthy of being at Magnus Bane’s side.

But Magnus had a hidden side to him that he didn’t show to very many people, a side made of ash and broken glass and torn skin. A secret father, a dead mother. A world razed to the ground with Magnus standing in the centre of the storm, laughing like there was no tomorrow. Magnus had only ever allowed one person to see that part of him, the part he was utterly, completely terrified of.

If the Magnus most people knew was made of glittering blue sparks and golden cat eyes, Alec’s Magnus was made of grey smoke and the razor-sharp silver of a shattered mirror. And Alec loved both of them with everything he had. But he also knew - _knew_ , somehow, deep in his bones - that his own red aura had melded seamlessly with Magnus's blue one and turned the both of them into something stunning, something far better together than either of them could ever be alone.

Something beautiful.

 

 


End file.
